


If I Must - Duliae

by cosmic_love2902



Category: Ebon Light (Visual Novel)
Genre: Ebon Light - Freeform, F/M, Sickness, There will be a second part, i need more fanfiction on this vn, kind of fluff, pls read
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:15:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26668819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmic_love2902/pseuds/cosmic_love2902
Summary: Alenca has been married to Duliae for a few years now, sickness entails.
Relationships: Alenca Goffil | Main Character/Duliae Laushust
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	If I Must - Duliae

**Author's Note:**

> Everyone, I need more fanfiction on Ebon Light, please and thank you.

The _cuthintal_ was quiet; its anger had subsided into driftless nonsense after the years. It still talked as much, perhaps a little less frequently, but I had become stronger. I no longer flinched every time _its_ babble incited itself into my everyday conversation.

_ It.  _

That's all it was. Sometimes I wonder after I'm gone when no one remembers my name. If I will become  _ it  _ as well, a memory broken apart by centuries and distance.

I never dwelled too long on the thought. I was happy, content, Gha'alia had no more will to push me around.

It was normal every day, the sun rose on the darkened color curtains, and the golden head next to me shifted. Somehow, he still looked wonderfully put-together, though his curls frayed from their usual neatness to lick the side of his face.

_ Pale, ethereal, _ I couldn't help but stare in awe at the man I laid next to, a simple love of chance with complicated experiences.

"Darling," Duliae's voice drawled out, it was deep, resonating in my mind before he continued. 

"If you are to continue to stare, I might burn through our mattress." He chuckled, amused with himself before I raised an eyebrow, leaning in to drift my lips over his brow and whisper.

"You will do that on your own,  _ my love _ ," I smirked, before rolling onto my back. The speckled, translucent looking ceiling above me, it looked endless, like the night sky. 

My view was suddenly filled in a flash of golden-white, the warmth of the cover fleeting as Duliae rustled around the bed, hands finding themselves to each side of my head.

"Amusing," He whispered, his purple eyes were bright this morning, the sleep had done him well, yet looking at him in the morning was as bright as the sun, I swear he nearly  _ glowed _ . 

But I had come to love him for it, even more.

He leaned down, rushing his cold lips onto the heat of my neck, brushing away strands of hair with his right hand. Cold, long fingers, they brought goosebumps most pleasantly. As he flurried his kisses into my neck, I ran my fingers through his hair, the strands felt like a current, as though I could feel the ocean tide slipping from my grasp with each stroke.

As he came to a stop, I took my time to admire him; we sat together in that bed for a few minutes more, hearing the quiet skies of Gha'alia awakening, though I assume it had never really ceased.

"I love you, my  _ darling _ ." His voice was soft, breathless. I leaned for his lips for the last time, allowing myself to bask in the affection.

With that, he was off on a business trade meeting with some new 'pirates.' I assume they were just thieves, but Duliae was the best at manipulation, after all. I stood in the mirror, my nightgowns silkiness still hung off my body, it was comforting, and I brushed my hand over the dark violet ribbon.

The feeling came suddenly, as I looked at myself in the mirror. My skin had grown more pale since Duliae left. I could see my veins more prominently at the surface. The heat of it grew hot.

Perhaps a simple illness had overtaken me, I thought. Before I lurched forward, nearly falling over myself as the bile came up my throat, I rushed to the bathroom.

The episode had lasted around thirty minutes before I finally stopped and dry heaved my stomach bile up. As I rose, I could feel myself sway on the balls of my feet, the hallway drifting from side to side, yet I hadn't started walking. My forehead was growing warmer, I could feel my cheeks flush as the cold sweat began to sink in.

I laid myself back in bed, not before grabbing a large bowl from the kitchen. The sheets that were once soft and inviting, Duliae's loving form beside me, were now suffocating. I could not decide whether I was too hot or too cold, so my feet stuck out at various angles before I relocated them back under the warmth.

Eventually, I grew too tired to fight the drowsiness and my shifting temperatures so I drifted off as the sheets encompassed me.

I had woken multiple times throughout the day, to find myself even hotter to touch and then would vomit into the bowl. Though I had only awoken from fever the last few times, hopefully, my stomach would remain strong. I could see the light outside the window had grown darker, though it was just a passing thought before I let sleep join me in my sickness.

_ " _ Love _ , my love, _ " I could hear a deep whisper, someone's gloved hands on my cheeks, light and feathery as they passed. 

"Alenca,  _ dear _ , are you awake?" My eyes opened blearily to the sight of Duliae, his locks falling around his face, brows turned downwards in concern.

I imagined I most likely looked amazing, my hair knotted and nightgown rumpled and smelled of roses, especially after all the times I had gotten sick. 

"My  _ darling _ , you are ill." Not a question, I noticed. I grimaced, I could see the bowl next to the nightstand still, and leaned my cheek into Duliae's embrace.

"Apologies," My voice croaked out. I sounded rough, sandpaper coated my vocal cords, and I groaned.

Duliae smiled at me, his charm and wit falling away at my weakness; it was genuine. My heart fluttered with familiar warmth. 

"I will call a healer immediately, though why you had not thought to call one earlier is beyond my thinking." He raised his eyebrows, eyes glazed in disapproval. I had been sick before, multiple times, in much worse conditions with Aunt Vanya, so I had never even thought upon a healer.

"Not necessary,” My voice still sore. “It's only a simple illness, I'm sure it'll pass within the week, Duliae." I smiled back at him, resting my hand over his, which still held my cheek. He sighed, before rising to walk out of the room, he stopped at the door.

"I will call a healer," He smiled as I glared at him, chuckling for a second before continuing.

"I'll gather you new sheets and blankets as well, wait here, dear." His purple-clad form vanished into the hallway, and I sat up. 

Emptying and rinsing my bowl before setting it back in the kitchen was disgusting. I had washed my mouth out as well, but the feeling of sickness still lingered. Walking back to the room, I find Duliae standing in the middle, the neat stack of silky bedding crumpling at the sides where his hands gripped them tightly. 

He turns around hastily, enough to make me dizzy, before seeing my form right behind him.

He raised his eyebrows once more and sighed. Leaving the bedding on the stand, he walks over to grab my shoulders and leads me to a chair that sat at the far end of the room. He was being oddly doting, though I wouldn't complain. It was the first time I had gotten truly sick around him. Though I didn't think it called for all this fuss.

His fingers traced a soft circle into the skin at my shoulders as he led me to the chair. 

He sat me down as I tried to complain, asking him to let me help with the bedding. He silenced me as he drew me close to his form, a small, slight hug, more so just brushing his arms across my shoulders. He placed a chaste kiss over my forehead before returning to the sheets.

The healer arrived just moments after I had settled back into the bed. The cozy plushness beneath me was comforting once more. Duliae had gone downstairs to 'speak' with the few maids, most likely to reprimand them on checking my health every once in a while. 

The healer was a long woman, her skin as pale as all other Gha'alians, and electric blue eyes that gazed over my form as she asked me questions, not all I wished to answer. 

The woman gazed over my body one last time, before handing me a small slip of parchment, so soft I felt as though it would crumble in my touch. The writing on the slip was in Gha'alian, I had been practicing so I was able to make out most words. 

I thanked the woman as she left, nodding before she made her way out. The note had told me to stop by in three weeks for another appointment—the address located just a bit past Kadia's clothing shop. I hid the parchment inside the dresser, buried in the pages of an old book I had started reading as I heard Duliae's footsteps creek up the stairs.

I hadn't needed him to worry about this, already being so busy and such a simple illness too.

" _ Darling _ , how did it go?" He scanned over me before coming to sit on the right side, the dent in the bed drawing me closer towards him. 

"You are well?" Duliae searched my eyes, and I smiled, nodding at his concern. It wasn't a lie, per se; he didn't need to know she wished to see me again.

It was tiring, having so many fuss over me, but a part of me appreciated it. The kind of care one would not get back in Edric.

I would simply go to the appointment in three weeks' time and leave it at that. My illness would be gone, and the healer would realize it was just my ‘fragile human’ health at work.

How I looked forward to things returning to normal.

After a small meal, mostly just consisting of a small piece of bread and water, I returned back to my slumber. This time Duliae laid beside me, running his fingers through my hair soft. His nails lightly scratched at my scalp. The warmth and steady beat from his chest was the final piece that lulled me to sleep.

A soft whisper echoed around, though I was too tired to answer back. 

“ _ Sleep well, darling. _ ” 

The next morning Duliae was gone once more, increasingly busy with this connection he was trying to forge. I didn't mind, though staying inside for so long was uncomfortable.

And over the next few weeks, just after Duliae would leave, I would get sick. My throat was raw from all the vomiting, though at least it never lasted too long, and I could always feign being better before Duliae got back.

He hadn't known, as I swore the maids to secrecy, perhaps a little threatening with the cuthintal on my part, but he didn't need to.

As I walked down the familiar streets of Gha'alia, rain started to mist down, just lightly brushing me in a cold haze. I entered the small building where the healer resided and waited.

"As I suspected," The woman started, her eyes drawing over me once more, before she returned back to the paper she held. She had run various tests that took a varying amount of time, much longer than I would have liked, and I faintly remember I hadn't told Duliae I was going out this morning.

"You're with  _ child _ , congratulations." I sat there, staring the woman back in the eyes, her words weren't particularly enthusiastic, and I asked myself for a moment if she were joking, but the eyes that looked back at me were dead serious.

"Oh," I said, words didn't seem to come to my mind, and I had just wanted to go back to the familiarity of my bed.

"Right, thank you," I repeated my thanks multiple times, shocked and dazed, and walked out, but not before she nodded and handed me a slip at the door, another appointment scrawled into the soft parchment.

I sighed as I began to walk towards Duliae's door, my door, my  _ home _ .

Would he be angry that I was with child? 

We hadn't truly discussed having children, not yet, though I told him one would be nice in our future. In agreement, he had nodded before mentioning he wanted no more than two, grubby fingers and constant whining, he said.

As I walked through the door, stepping inside the kitchen, where I could make out a golden head of hair staring down at notes on the dining table.

" _ Love _ ," Duliae looked up, eyebrows raised before his eyes noticed the slip of parchment I held tightly in my grasp. This was more nerve-wracking than I had anticipated. 

"Where had you gone?" His question was innocent, not demanding knowledge. He knew I was my own person; we had long since worked that out. His eyes filtered over my hands once more before standing.

"And what is that?" I stared down at the words, the sharp points of the Gha'alian letters seemed to be stabbing themselves into my stomach. I took a deep breath as Duliae came to run his hands over my knuckles, enclosing mine within his.

"Alenca," Duliae started to speak, before I cut in, rushing my words into a singular breath and looking up at his face.

"I am with child." I released, might as well get it out into the open. Duliae blinked down at me, a similar reaction to my own, taking his time to process the information.

His hands moved from my own, sketching up to my elbows, then shoulders, coming around to wrap me against his form. The hug was loose, but his body seemed to surround my own.

"I see," He chuckled, it was soft, light, and he seemed...joyful? Perhaps.

"You are not angry?" I asked, whispering the words into his shirt, which I had wrapped my fingers around, allowing the slip of parchment to be forgotten and fall to the floor.

"Shocked, yes," He replied, "But not angry, no, not ever,  _ darling _ ." 

The affectionate term I had come to love was whispered, muffled as he buried himself into my hair. He drew me closer than physically possible, and we stood there for minutes, taking in the information.

This was my life, far from Edric, with the man, the elf, I  _ loved _ .

I didn't ever want it to  _ end _ .

**Author's Note:**

> I hope I was able to maintain Duliae's character correctly, and keep the old language too, sorry if it's ooc sometimes
> 
> Anywho, the second part should be up next weekend, thank you for reading, lovelies!


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